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31.12.14

The girls and I want to wish you the happiest of New Year. Thank you for welcoming me to this blogging world and being apart of our journey. I am truly grateful for each and everyone of you. These cool chicks say Happy New Year!

22.12.14

It is only two more days until Christmas and I still haven't wrapped any of the presents yet. There are just random presents lying all around my work room and my children don't even bother looking for them. They truly truly believe in Santa. This year the girls and I decided to bake chocolate chip cookies for our neighbors. Apparently it is not a norm here. I spent many nights looking for "the best chocolate chip cookie" recipe and finally settled with savorysweetlife chocolate chip cookies. I must say they are amazing!!!

They are just the right amount of sweetness. Originally I thought I would design a label and blah blah blah for the packaging but that idea was quickly replaced by what crack are you smoking. So they ended up with simple packaging with baker twines.

Sometimes the best presents are the most delicious ones, don't you think?

So now all I have to do is wrap all the presents and enjoy the holidays....I hope. I really haven't been doing a lot of projects at all these last few weeks. I am slowly working on my work room which is just the tiniest room in the house. Recently I was contacted by a company called Chairish. Have you heard of them? It is the most amazing online market place where people can buy and sell beautiful vintage furniture. Here are the collections of their Vintage Furniture. You all know how much I love my vintage chairs and they have crazy selections of them. I went through their curated collections and pick out my inspirations for my work room. Honestly I spent the whole day just looking through their collections.

I am so in love with that gorgeous black and gold French desk. I would pair it with this pretty blue french chair. How amazing is this laboratory machinist desk lamp? It is so unexpected and complete my brocante look. A simple love seat and this amazing gilded chandelier to complete the room. Like I said, my room is so small that I really don't need a lot to make it feel complete and cozy. I hope everyone will have the happiest of holidays and Happy New Year! Here is a picture I took of my cottage garden two weeks ago when it was completely covered with snow. It just screams Merry Christmas, doesn't it?

Preheat oven to 360 degrees. Cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar until it is nice and fluffy (approx. 3 minutes on medium-high speed on a K-5). Add both eggs and vanilla and beat for an additional 2 minutes. Add baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour until cookie batter is fully incorporated. Finally add chocolate chips until well distributed. The cookie batter should be somewhat thick. Drop about 2 tablespoons of dough or use a medium cookie scoop and plop the batter onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12-14 minutes until the edges are nice and golden brown. Remove from heat and allow the cookies to stay on the cookie sheet for an additional 2 minutes. Pick up the parchment paper with the cookies still on top and transfer to a cool non-porous surface. Allow the cookies to cool on the paper for at least 3 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Notes

*please do not use table salt, the sea salt gives the cookies a nice flavor and hints of texture. If you only have table salt, use ½ tsp. *When using sea salt, you will get small crunchy flecks of salt when you bite into the cookie. If you do not like this taste, go with ½ teaspoon of table salt.
*I realized grocery stores sell bags of chocolate chips in 12 oz bags but this recipe really needs every last chip. Otherwise you’ll get cookies with only a few chips in each one and this recipe requires lots of chocolate to bulk the cookie up. You’ll need about 1½ bags.

10.12.14

It has not stopped raining for the last few days and Oh how I miss the sun. I don't know about where you are but it is just dark and gloomy "I just want to stay in bed in my pajamas and read for days" kind of weather. It is also the kind of days where I find myself really deep in thoughts about where I am in life and where do I want to go from here. I am finally at a point in my life where I am really happy with what I am doing creatively. For the last few weeks, I have started to curate a little collection of my works to sell on etsy. It will be small to start out with. There will be a dresser, a pair of gorgeous French wing chairs, a mirror and maybe a bed. Every single piece, of course, has been re imagined and re purposed. One thing I have to keep reminding myself is to take it slow and make it perfect. There are so many exciting things happening and wonderful people who will be taking this journey with me and I can't wait to share all of that with you when the time comes. For now I have no set date on when the online shop will be opening but I wanted to share with you my very first piece of the collection. Do you remember this little dresser I shared with you awhile ago?

I love its shape and details but it just wasn't "me." I wanted this piece to feel more glamorous but feel both masculine and feminine at the same time. So here it is.

I used MMS in typewriter then a coat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint® in Paris Grey over that. After what seemed like hours of sanding it to get the look I want, I went over the whole piece with clear and dark wax. Of course, gilding for all the details.

A piece likes this is all about the details.

It is such a statement piece that all I needed was a stack of old books to decorate it.

I took these pictures in my work room which you can probably tell from the dust on the floor that it is still a work in progress. Can you see what I am working on in the mirror? Hopefully I can share with you my work room soon.

I am a true believer that almost anything is possible. Of course it all has to start with a dream.

2.12.14

Happy December! I hope all you ladies had a great Thanksgiving. We had about 12 inches of snow the day before Thanksgiving. The girls were so excited to be able to go sledding and to make snow men.

Aurora was out for about five minutes then came back in tears because she didn't like getting wet. Bella spent another hour building snowmen...that girl is a true New Englander. Aurora...not so much.

The next day we drove to Boston to be with family and enjoyed a very international Thanksgiving meal. I forgot to take pictures but it was the most delicious Burmese food/ Chinese food/ Indian and your traditional turkey and stuffing. The day after Thanksgiving was my best friend, Jess's wedding and it was Thanksgiving food 2.0. I have to tell you I cried like a baby when she walked down the aisle. She looked absolutely beautiful and the wedding was elegant and simple and intimate. They got married in this cute little barn in Connecticut. It was truly a wonderful night. Jess and I have been friends since freshmen year of college. I remembered sitting at the cafeteria eating lunch and she just walked up to me and said, "You and I should be friends." She has always been there for me through life's ups and downs and I for her. I used to think soul mates were about men and falling in love with this idea of knight in shinning armor but I realized soul mates were people who see us for who we really are and accept us and love us no matter what. I am so lucky to have Jess as one of my soul mates.

Here is the beautiful bride and groom. I took the pictures with my phone and they all came out dark. : /

I ordered a dress for the wedding then when I got it, it fitted all wrong. Like a girl that I am, I literally went through my whole closet trying to find something to wear an hour before the wedding. I ended up wearing a tuxedo jumpsuit and a blazer. I thought Jess would appreciate my vintage cocktail hat.

So wonderful to be reunited with all of my college friends.

Here is my lovely date and I.

The girls were flower girls and let me tell you, they did not stop dancing until the end of the night.

20.11.14

The girls and I have been listening to Christmas music non-stop for a week now. It is full blown Christmas season in our house. We love it! I am sure they love the idea of presents the most but I love the spirit of Christmas. I feel like every year, the materialistic part of the season is getting worst and worst. Especially since the girls now have two households <meaning twice the amount of presents>, the demands are getting worst. I really want them to enjoy the spirit of the season and all the simple experiences that come with it.

Like decorating the Christmas tree.

The girls were so excited to have their own little tree this year. Their room becomes such a magical space with the twinkling of lights at night.

Since their room is pretty small, I've decided to decorate it with simple greenery.

Instead of getting way too many toys they will play with for one day, I am taking them to see The Nutcracker. I think they are going to love it. I am sure Santa will bring some presents for under the tree too. : ) Stay warm, my friends. It sure is cold out.

17.11.14

It has been rainy and gloomy all day. I wish I could just relax and read a book while the girls play quietly but we all know those days are long gone. The girls are so excited for Christmas and I am so excited for Christmas trees and Christmas music and Christmas cookies. We had a quiet weekend and I got a chance to paint a Gustavian style console. I got it at a flea market months ago and actually forgot about it until this weekend. It isn't made out of real wood but I like the way it looks.

You know when it comes to my furniture or anything in life really...I love my bling bling. Then I would look at pictures from other amazing blogs and see their simple French farm house or Gustavian style decor and I drool over them. I have these daydreams of waking up in an old farm house and galloping with horses and baking pies from scratch while my children in their prairie dresses tend our pet chickens and sheep. Aren't daydreaming so much fun? Since the likelihoods of me galloping with wild horses or my two divas tending our pet chickens are slim to none, I had to settle for a simple painted Gustavian style console.

I painted the console with Chalk Paint® in Paris Grey and went over every detail with dark wax.

A simple small Christmas tree inside a metal bucket completed the look.

How gorgeous is this big gilded mirror?

I am going back to my upholstery class on Saturday and I can't wait to get started with upholstery projects. I actually miss doing upholstery. I have done small projects like dinning room chairs and foot stool but nothing crazy like my daybed. I can't wait to get my crazy out!

8.11.14

So today was the day. The Big Day. Jess's Bridal Shower. As I am writing this post, I am running on three hours of sleep. As usual, I started preparing for the shower at eight o'clock the night before. I was an absolute mess...completely my own fault since I do everything last minute. As I was bossing around and yelling out random things, B said, "You can't expect amazing things if you do things last minute." I just looked at him and said, "Oh No, my friend, you don't know me at all." It seemed it was the exact fuel I needed to get my butt moving and boy, it did. I was up until three in the morning, glittering cups and utensils and pipping butter cream roses on cupcakes. By the last cupcakes, I could no longer move my hand. The end result? It came out pretty amazing if I say so myself. So Suck it, B.

Pink and gold were the colors for the shower. One of the main things I really wanted was for all the ladies to feel extra special and pampered. Of course that means walking around the party with a pink champagne in hand. I hand brushed the gold glitter on champagne flutes. It made the plastic flutes look more luxe. B actually did the chalkboard signs. He did an amazing job.

The first thing I thought about when Jess asked me to host her shower was the dessert table. We both love desserts. I wanted it to look like a flower garden. I ordered the pastries from our local bakery. They are out of this world amazing. I baked the cupcakes.

One of my favorite thing to do is decorate cupcakes. It is like sculpting with yummy butter cream.

Of course you can't have a party without amazing food.

I was half asleep painting gold on these little forks. They came out so good.

How gorgeous is this cart? I got it from Homegoods. Obsessed!

Jess told me she didn't want to play any games during the shower. So I had to find ways to entertain the guests. Here is a little Polaroid station for the ladies to put on vintage hats and pose away.

The biggest hit of the party was my flower crowns station. I can't believe I didn't get a chance to take a picture of it. I put my vanity in the living room with buckets full of flower and let the ladies make their own flower crowns. We all had so much fun! Here is my good friend, Vennessa, loving her flower crown.

What a beautiful day for my beautiful friend. I am truly grateful to have you in my life. It was a day full of love and laughter and friends.